Phantasm
The Phantasm was the secret identity of Andrea Beaumont, a vigilante who would come to cross paths with the man she loved: the Batman. History Before The Bat Andrea Beaumont was the daughter of Carl Beaumont, a successful businessman who found himself in debt to Gotham crime boss Salvatore Valestra. Unaware of the serious nature of her father's problems, Andrea would stumble into a chance meeting with young Bruce Wayne at her mother's gravesite while the future Batman was visiting his own parents' graves. The relationship quickly blossomed into something much more serious, and the subsequent emotions created feelings of doubt and guilt in Bruce. The son of Thomas and Martha Wayne had spent more than a decade on "the plan" which had prepared his body and mind for his imminent declaration of war on Gotham's underworld. But in all of his planning, Bruce had never counted on love and happiness. For the first time since his parents' death, Bruce found himself nearing an inner peace, and he proposed to Andrea Beaumont. 's proposal.]] Unfortunately for Andrea and Bruce, Carl Beaumont's mob ties turned from sour to deadly. Fearing for his life, Carl forced Andrea into hiding with him. Knowing only that Andrea was leaving and would not return, Bruce fell into despair and threw himself back into "the plan" by becoming the Dark Knight. Carl and Andrea attempted to disappear into anonymity, but they were soon found by Sal Valestra's chief hitman: a murderous thug who, years later, would become Batman's greatest enemy. Carl Beaumont was killed, despite the fact that he managed to pay Valestra back, with Andrea left alive to mourn him... and to plot her revenge. She covered up Carl's death, using his remaining money to establish a life for herself and acquire the weapons and equipment she would need to exact revenge on the men who ordered the death of her father. Becoming the Phantasm The Phantasm first appeared during Batman's bust of a gambling operation, causing the death of Chuckie Sol, one of Sal Valestra's old partners. Since the Phantasm had not actually been sighted publicly, and that Batman was spotted at the scene of the crime, it was strongly suspected that Batman had been the actual killer. Andrea Beaumont returned to Gotham soon afterward, contacting Arthur Reeves, an old friend who had carried a torch for her while she'd dated Bruce; Reeves had also been an assistant to her father. Returning to her mother's grave, she caught a glimpse of Batman watching her from behind Thomas and Martha Wayne's gravestone. Since it was at this very spot that they'd met, Andrea quickly realized that Bruce Wayne was the man behind the mask. The next of Valestra's old partners to fall victim to the Phantasm was Buzz Bronski, who was killed while visiting Chuckie Sol's gravesite. When starting to see the connection Sol, Bronski and Valestra, Batman began to suspect that the Phantasm was actually Andrea's father Carl. A fearful Sal Valestra turned to the Joker for help in protecting him from Batman, who was still the prime suspect in the mob killings. Joker later killed Valestra, using the dead mobster's grinning corpse as bait for the mysterious vigilante, and discovered via video camera that Batman was not to blame before blowing up Valestra's home. After escaping the explosion, the Phanstasm attempted to escape from Batman (who had just arrive via Batwing) and proceeded to escape once the police arrived After rescuing Batman from the police (out of costume), the two of them spent the night together at Wayne Manor and seemingly promised to reconcile their relationship, whilst at the same time, she told Bruce about why she had to leave but neglected to mention that her father was dead (killed by the former identity of the Joker) and lied to him by still keeping up the charade that he was the true identity of The Phantasm. When she eventually left, she promised she would return later that night. After leaving, she made one last phone call and cancelled a supposed dinner date she was supposed to be having with Arthur Reeves that same night, who unbeknown to her, was being visited by The Joker at the same time she had called. Having deduced her identity, Joker attempted to kill Andrea in her own apartment by blowing it up with remote controlled airplanes strapped with explosives, whilst at the same time mocking her with a prank-phone call. Unknown to The Joker however, was that the one who had picked up his call was Batman, who had been investigating her apartment at the time (and survived his assassination attempt meant for Andrea), and that Andrea was actually on her way to him. Andrea moved against the Joker at his hideout: the abandoned site of the old Gotham World's Fair. Batman discovered that Arthur Reeves had been the one who ratted out Carl Beaumont to Sal Valestra in exchange for money to help his campaign. He also realized that Valestra's old hitman was now the Joker. After attempting to kill him personally, Andrea almost fell victim to one of the madman's deadly traps, before she was saved by Batman. .]] She and Batman argued over the Joker's fate, but both found themselves fighting for their lives against the Joker's booby-traps. After Batman subdued the Joker, an unmasked Andrea Beaumont disappeared with the Joker into a cloud of smoke as the fairgrounds exploded all around them. With nothing left, she left Gotham on a ferry and stood alone on deck. When a party guest tried to talk to her, she addressed him coldy. He asked if she'd rather be alone, and she solomnly repiled, "I am." A later issue of the comic based on the series explained the circumstances under which both Joker and Phantasm survived the blast; Phantasm in fact hesitated for a second when carrying Joker to the core of the explosion, seeing he was no longer the cold-hearted killer of her father, but rather a grinning lunatic with no sense of right and wrong. Because of this hesitation, the blast detonated before either was in range. Phantasm in fact returned once more to Bruce Wayne, if only to warn him that a major bounty had been set on his head, by none other than Arthur Reeves, by then deformed by the effect of Joker's Smilex toxin into a smiling monster himself. Some of his paid goons managed to capture both Wayne and Phantasm, holding them in Reeves' own apartment. Ultimately Reeves fell through a window when he believed he was about to kill the Phantasm with her own axe. In reality, it was only a set decoy, and Reeves fell to his death several stories below. Her mission accomplished, Andrea Beaumont left Wayne definitely. Later Years Andrea's career as the Phantasm apparently continued, though the details of her later life were never clearly depicted. Decades after Andrea Beaumont's disappearance, Amanda Waller hired the Phantasm to assassinate the father and mother of Terry McGinnis. Waller hoped that the tragedy of such a loss at a young age would drive Terry to become an agent of justice as Bruce Wayne had before him. However, at the last minute, Andrea refused to go through with the job and angrily berated Waller for planning the attempt at all, convincing her that she was violating everything that Batman stood for by going through with the plan. Because Andrea spared the unknowing McGinnis', they later had a second son and Terry would later become the new Batman through a different set of circumstances. Since Waller had hand-picked the Phantasm for that particular step of Project Batman Beyond it is entirely possible that Andrea Beaumont had spent at least part of her later years working under Waller, either as member of Cadmus or simply as a covert agent. Weapons and Abilities As the Phantasm, Andrea outfits herself with a protective bodysuit that shields her from most minor impacts. She wields and a razor sharp blade on her right hand and a special gauntlet on her left hand that dispenses smoke which can provide cover for her movements as well as be used offensively. The razor blade, however, was vulnerable to acidic compounds, and partially melted away when the Joker squirted acid from his boutonnière at it. The Phantasm "death's-head" mask has a built-in voice changer and a breathing filter. Presumably, the eye lenses contain some sort of night vision, since she is able to move somewhat freely amongst her own cover smoke. Andrea Beaumont is a normal human woman who has undergone extensive self-defense and martial arts training since her teens, making her a very capable hand-to-hand combatant whose skills have more often than not, taken even Bruce Wayne by surprise (both in and out of costume). She is an excellent athlete and is still an active mercenary/vigilante at a fairly late age, making it obvious that she's stayed in fighting shape over the years. Background Information Andrea Beaumont's first name was supposedly chosen because of Andrea Romano, who did the casting for and for this movie. Kevin Conroy, who voiced Batman, had flirted with Romano, leading to a relationship between Conroy's character and Romano's namesake. The Phantasm is somewhat based on the DC Comics character The Reaper, who according to revised comics continuity was a former vigilante who had been active in Gotham City twenty years prior to the first appearance of Batman. The Reaper was not above killing criminals but had disappeared from the public eye until the Batman's early adventures brought him out of retirement. The comics story (Batman: Year Two) was more straightforward than the mystery of Mask of the Phantasm and had several major differences; among other things, the Reaper's alter ego actually is the father of Bruce Wayne's love interest, and the secondary villain of the piece is Joe Chill, the killer of Wayne's parents (Thomas and Martha). Appearances Feature Film *''Batman: Mask of the Phantasm'' * "Epilogue" Category:Batman Beyond-era characters Category:Individuals proficient in martial arts Category:Batman rogues